The love birds held hands across their hospital beds, positioned close together in the living room, as they slept. Seeing these two like this was not a rare occurrence. Emilio and Ana M. Serrano had, through raising five beautiful children, three daughters and two sons, and through Emilio’s two tours in Vietnam and one in Korea. They even received Samaritan hospice care together.
When Ana passed the family sprang into action to put together a service honoring her life. The question then became how to transport Emilio, who was physically fragile and bed bound, so that he could say goodbye to his beloved wife at her service.
The Serrano daughters, Ana E., Carmen, and Milagros, had been caregivers for their parents for seven years and were used to doing everything themselves. Together they navigated the needs of their mom’s dementia and their father’s lung disease. They were amazed by their parents’ and the amount of support which the team provided them.
“You guys were always a step ahead, realizing what the challenges were going to be.” Samaritan’s interdisciplinary team members stay in constant communication with one another to make sure they are current on and adjusting to what patients and families want and need.
On Wednesday, Ana called Serena, their Samaritan hospice social worker, to see if transport support was possible and if Samaritan could provide Emilio portable oxygen for the services that Friday.
“How can we help?” was the answer she got. These words lifted her spirits as she had encountered multiple dead ends in her search before she made the call.
Serena assured her that Samaritan would provide Emilio with the oxygen he needed. She explained that while Samaritan did not have transportation vehicles, the team would do everything they could to help fulfill this need for Emilio and the family.
Serena immediately communicated the need to the team. Everyone was determined to help Emilio and began thinking through creative solutions. Serena and the team sent out emails and made calls to those who they thought might be able to help. And though they were hitting roadblocks, the team pressed on.
Early on Thursday, a suggestion was proposed by a member of the that the team reach out to Senator Troy Singleton’s office to see if they might have resources to help a veteran like Emilio. The Senator’s office suggested that SEN-HAN might be able to transport Emilio and immediately reached out to see if it would be possible. Shortly after, it was confirmed that SEN-HAN would transport Emilio to the service, the viewing, and then back home at no charge to the family.
“We just couldn’t believe someone was helping us,” Ana emphasized with emotion. Getting the call about transportation brought tears of joy and relief to the sisters. For them their dad, missing his wife’s services was not an option, so to know they had the help they needed filled their hearts. Over their seven years as caregivers, they had gotten used to figuring it out alone. Having support transporting their dad moved some of the stress off their shoulders. Now they could focus on saying goodbye to mom.
Serena, upon hearing the good news, shed some tears of joy, “To be able to see this hospice miracle happen for him meant a lot.” The joy of this moment radiated throughout the team.
On Friday SEN-HAN arrived on time and with the right accessible vehicle drove Emilio to the service. Although Emilio is a stoic man it was clear that he had a sense of relief being able to say goodbye to his wife.
With a heart full of thanks, Ana heaped praise on everyone who was involved saying, “I would like to wholeheartedly thank them for everything that they have done for my father.”
Experiencing Samaritan’s hospice care opened the sisters’ eyes to all the support that was available to caregivers. In addition to the expert clinical support, they saw the immense value of the emotional support hospice care provides for caregivers. “They are [Samaritan] there for you when you feel helpless and hope when you feel hopeless.”